Coveted Italian luxurious model Golden Goose opened its third retailer in India in Mumbai in December, after Delhi and Bengaluru. The Venice-based model, which posted a turnover of €656 million in 2024, is well-known for its distressed look and co-creation with the shoppers. The footwear might be fully personalised, giving them a singular identification. In a free-wheeling dialog with Enterprise At this time, Silvio Campara, CEO of Golden Goose, spoke concerning the significance of the Indian market, how the luxurious panorama is altering and what makes Golden Goose so fashionable with Gen Z. Edited excerpts:
Q. How necessary is India as a marketplace for you?
India may be very particular to us and to me personally. Trend is reflective of society and tradition. India is among the most necessary cultural hubs on the earth. India hasn’t seen its full potential but. I’ve invested in three shops as a result of I’m able to wager that very quickly execution will meet aspiration. I’m positive India could have quite a bit to inform within the style and luxurious scene on the earth.
India has one of many youngest luxurious markets on the planet. Demographics make a distinction. Furthermore, you will have unbelievable attachment to heritage. There isn’t any innovation with no clear connection to the previous. So, that is what’s making me very assured of investing in your nation.
Q. Does the Indian luxurious buyer differ from these in different fast-growing luxurious markets?
Completely, sure. The market may be very totally different. Take for instance, weddings. They’re such a giant a part of the Indian market. We anticipated the individuals to be extra conventional of their tastes, however they aren’t. In order that was a studying for us.
India is the right mix of custom and innovation. If China is by related to innovation, and Europe with heritage, then India is a mix of the 2. It’s due to this enormous cultural capital and a really younger shopper market.
How are you focusing on the younger Indian luxurious shopper that you’re speaking about, with out diluting your model’s identification?
We don’t have a heritage to defend. So, we’re not in defence mode. We’re in offence mode, we’re extra open to embracing the brand new emotional element of younger shoppers, moderately than defending our outdated, heritage element.
When you have a heritage, you wish to arrange your online business on need as a result of you’ll be able to’t actually adapt so simply to the wants of an 18-year-old buyer. For us, it’s the precise reverse. We don’t have something to defend. Solely new moments to craft with our clients. We envision our model extra as a platform moderately than a closed field. Our objective is to supply merchandise that may assist individuals unleash their very own creativity and specific themselves moderately than accept another person’s concept of what it needs to be. Our tagline is ‘Be Distinctive, Be Your self’. We’re within the enterprise of making love and never need. We wish individuals to say they love Golden and never that they need it. That was the most important innovation that we entered the market with. No one may consider that personalisation could be such successful. For the previous 15 years, the youthful era has been crafting its personal content material. So, it’s no shock that clients wish to craft their very own merchandise. I don’t have any fashion-risk element, as a result of I don’t have one hero designer. I’ve miniscule designers so everybody might be the perfect designer for themselves. It’s not as a result of that is my technique however as a result of that is what new clients need. Conventional luxurious manufacturers due to their value factors and the best way they’re, have solely 6-7% Gen Z clients. Whereas 37-40% of our clients are Gen Z, 70% are ladies. Our clientele can also be tremendous loyal. For luxurious merchandise, Gen Z buys could also be one product a yr, whereas in our case they arrive not less than 4 occasions to our retailer.
Q. Co-creation is central to Golden Goose. How will that happen in India?
The design on the shoe is by far the numero uno co-creation expertise. We see individuals designing particular events like commencement, wedding ceremony day or different issues like pets. Globally, we see numerous heritage monuments, however that’s for luxurious vacationers. Luxurious tourism isn’t taking place in India, the patrons are native shoppers, so there is no such thing as a emphasis on monuments. However now we have collaborations with Indian designers and artisans [For the Mumbai store, fashion designer Manish Malhotra co-created two limited edition sneakers]. Co-creation is large. It accounts for 50% of revenues. We’re all about personalisation and never customisation. In customisation, you select from chosen choices, whereas at Golden Goose you’ll be able to create your personal shoe which is totally distinctive. You place your personal persona on the product. Proper now, in India it is just on the sneakers, however we are going to begin providing it quickly on attire too.
Q. How do you see the luxurious panorama shaping?
Heritage luxurious manufacturers depend on one designer. That to me is unusual. How can one individual make a distinction to hundreds of thousands of individuals. Creativity must be expressed differently. How does a model resonate with the shoppers. Trend exhibits for me are just like the Pyramids. They’re so outdated. The thought that one thing that’s executed for a couple of individuals could have significance for hundreds of thousands of individuals is totally fallacious. The brand new media is retail, it’s shops. Folks can browse all the things on digital media, however they’re in search of genuine moments that may solely occur at a bodily degree, in a retailer. My recommendation to the luxurious world will probably be to rethink the best way they execute their love for his or her clients. They completely love their clients, however they’re executing it in a really outdated approach as a result of they’ve an excessive amount of heritage to defend. However generally you must break the foundations.
